In recent years, vehicles propelled by electric motors have undergone rapid development. For example, there are two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles that use drive motors (in-wheel motor) disposed in a wheel. In an in-wheel motor, wires for supplying electric power are laid out so as to be directly connected to the wheel, and the wires must therefore be held while allowed to follow the movement of the wheel assembly.
Thus, JP-A-2005-104329 discloses a wiring device in which the wires of an in-wheel motor are loosely held at a predetermined bending radius so as to follow the movement of the wheel assembly.
Furthermore, JP-A-2005-271909 discloses a wiring device having a swingably mounted wiring clamp for holding the wires of an in-wheel motor.
The wiring device of JP-A-2005-104329 is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 8, and the wiring device of JP-A-2005-271909 is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 9 hereof.
The wiring device 201 shown in FIG. 8 holds an electrical wire 204 that supplies electricity to an in-wheel motor 203 disposed in a wheel 202, and the electrical wire 204 is held at a predetermined bending radius and allowed to follow the steering and the vertical movement of a wheel assembly 205.
Specifically, the wiring device 201 has a body-side fixed part 206, a fixed-side guide 207, an intermediate roller 208, and a motor-side guide 209. The intermediate roller 208 is rotated via a chain 211 concurrent with the steering of the wheel assembly 205, whereby the electrical wire 204 is held at a predetermined bending radius. Furthermore, a flexing part 212 is provided between the body-side fixed part 206 and the fixed-side guide 207, whereby bending of the electrical wire 204 due to the vertical movement of the wheel assembly 205 can be reduced.
However, the wiring device 201 described above must have the body-side fixed part 206, fixed-side guide 207, intermediate roller 208, motor-side guide 209, chain 211, and other components for rotating the intermediate roller 208 in synchronization with the wheel assembly 205, resulting in a complex structure.
The structure includes many components, and the space required for accommodating those components increases. It is also necessary to provide space for the rotation of the intermediate roller 208, and it is thus difficult to reduce the size of the structure.
Another problem is the considerable slack in the flexing part 212 needed to allow the wires to follow the vertical movement of the wheel assembly 205.
In the wiring device 221 shown in FIG. 9, wires 224 to 226 for supplying power to an in-wheel motor 223 disposed inside a wheel 222 are held by a wiring clamp 227. The wiring clamp 227 swings around a kingpin 228 in accordance with the bending of the wires 224 to 226.
In the wiring device 221 described above, it is possible to reduce the bending force applied to the wires 224 to 226, but it is necessary to maintain space for the wiring clamp 227 to rotate, and the size of the device is difficult to reduce.